Dimitrius (Jim)
Fominas worked as a geodetic survey computer with Nat Map in the early 1950s.
At that time he was employed by the National Mapping Section of the Property
and Survey Branch of the Department of the Interior based at the Acton office
in Canberra. (In 1951 the National Mapping Section was renamed the National
Mapping Office.) It is uncertain as to when Jim Fominas commenced and ceased
work with Nat Map but he was most likely with Nat Map from the late 1940s to 1954.

Jim had
joined Nat Map as a recent arrival from Europe in 1948 or 1949 around the age
of 35 years. The circumstances of his arrival are currently unknown. As an
Australian resident alien until he was naturalised in November 1953 Jim Fominas
was not eligible for permanent employment in the Commonwealth public service.
Thus there were no Commonwealth of Australia Gazette notifications for
Jim Fominas’s Nat Map employment which was most likely on a temporary basis.

As a
geodetic survey computer Jim worked in the Records, Information, and Research
Sub-section at Acton under long-serving officer-in-charge Albert Francis (Bert)
Hurren whose Nat Map career ran from 1948 to 1975. In this position Jim was
responsible for undertaking involved geodetic survey computations and for
undertaking precise Laplace astronomical observations in the field and
computing the results of such observations. Of course in the early 1950s all
such computations had to be made by hand using tables of trigonometrical functions
and logarithmic tables.

Stuart
Highway Laplace observations 1950

As discussed
in more detail in an article by Paul Wise at this link, in 1950 Jim
Fominas led a three-man observing party (Trevor Trevillian and Graham Murray) that
undertook precise Laplace astronomical observations at selected survey control
stations along the Stuart Highway from Alice Springs to Darwin. The observing
instrument was a Wild T4 astronomical theodolite. These are believed to be the
first Laplace observations undertaken by National Mapping.

Laplace
observations allowed the determining of latitude and longitude coordinates and
azimuth from observations on selected stars (such as the magnitude 5.42 star Sigma
Octantis). As well a precise theodolite, the observation routine involved
the use of a star catalogue to obtain the astronomical parameters for the stars
to be observed, a chronometer and an accurate radio time-signal (and stopwatch) to allow the
recording of the exact time a selected star was observed.

Dmitri Fomin
(later Dimitrius Fominas) was born on 2 August 1914 to Nikolai Fomin (circa
1869‑circa 1924) and his wife Zinaida Fomina (née Dauguvietytė1887-1967).
Dimitrius had one sibling, his older sister Natalija Baueriené (Natasha or
Natalie) (Mrs Eugene Baueris) who was born in 1911 and died at Redfern in 2003
at age 92 years. Dimitrius stated he was born at St Peterborough (sic) in
Russia. St Petersburg is at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic
Sea) and at various times from its founding in 1703 until the Russian Revolution
in 1917 it was the capital of the Russian empire. St Petersburg is about 650
kilometres north east of Vilnius the capital of Lithuania.

By at least
1925 after the death of his father, Dimitrius, his sister and their mother were
living at the Dauguvietytė farm in Lithuania. The farm was near Kaunas, a
city in central Lithuania at the confluence of the Neris and Nemunas Rivers
about 90 kilometres west of Vilnius.

Unfortunately little else is currently known of Jim Fominas’s early
life and his years as a young man. However, when he arrived in Australia Jim
held the degree of Master of Engineering from Brno University, then in
Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic – Czechia). Jim was said to be fluent
in seven languages.

In a
September 1953 public notice of his intention to apply for Australian
citizenship, Jim stated he was of Lithuanian nationality, born at St Peterborough
(sic) in Russia and had resided in Australia for five years; implying he had
arrived in Australian around 1948.

On 5
November 1953 Jim Fominas and several other resident aliens were naturalised in
a ceremony in the Canberra Court where they swore the oath of allegiance before
Mr FCP Keane stipendiary magistrate. (Francis Charles Patrick Keane
(1901-1971) was the Australian Capital Territory’s first resident magistrate and
coroner. He served in that capacity from 30 November 1949 to 28 October
1966. Prior to this appointment FCP Keane was clerk of the court and titles
office from 1930 and from 1939 was the registrar of the ACT Supreme Court.)

Marriage
to Jean Johnston circa 1949

In 1949 Jim Fominas married Jean Mary Johnston (August
1928-September 2010) a stenographer who was then about 21 years of age. Jean
was a daughter of Maurice Stanley Clinton (Pug) Johnston (1906-1993) and
his wife EdnaEileen née Harding (circa 1906-1991).

Jean
Fominas’s father Pug Johnston joined the then Postmaster General’s
Department at Rylstone (near Mudgee in New South Wales) in 1921 and steadily
progressed through messenger and telegraphist positions. Pug Johnston and
Edna Harding married in Sydney in 1927. By 1948 the Johnstons were living in
Canberra where Edna later practised as a chiropodist. Also in 1948 Pug
left the PMG and soon after was appointed sheriff of the Australian Capital
Territory. Afterwards Pug became the ACT clerk of the court and the
titles office. He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1950 and served as
deputy registrar of the ACT Supreme Court between 1957 and 1968.

From
a 1949 electoral roll entry it appears that Jim and Jean Fominas were then residing
at 40 Elimatta Street Reid. The 1949 roll entry lists only Jean who was then
employed as a stenographer. As outined above Jim Fominas did not become an
Australian citizen until November 1953 and therefore was not eligible to be
listed on electoral rolls until after that date.

Jim
and Jean Fominas were to have two children; both born around the early 1950s. Their
son Nikolaus John (also called John Nicholas) was born in Canberra in November
1950. Their daughter Brigid Marie was born later. (Nikolaus Fominas became an
engineering surveyor in Canberra. In recent years he was been involved with
writing, cartographic work and oral history interviews with the Emeritus
Faculty of the Australian
National University.
Brigid Fominas became Mrs Arnold and later Mrs Rolf Wick.)

In September 1953 Jim Fominas resided at 15 Robinson
Street O’Connor. On electoral roll entries for 1954 Jim and Jean Fominas still
resided in Robinson Street; Jim was listed a being employed as a civil engineer
and Jean was engaged in home duties.

Sadly the marriage of Jim and Jean Fominas did not
endure. From electoral roll entries for 1958 they resided together at Oatley
after Jim moved to Sydney to work for the Central Mapping Authority. On the
1958 roll Jim was engaged as a surveyor and Jean was occupied with home
duties. On 1963 electoral roll entries Jim remained as a surveyor at Oatley
but Jean was listed as residing at 52 Bonython Street Downer and being employed
as a secretary. Thus it appears that the marriage of Jim and Jean Fominas had
broken down at some time between 1958 and 1963.

From Commonwealth of Australia Gazette entries, in
June 1948 prior to her marriage to Jim Fominas, Jean Johnston commenced work as
a 19-year old typist with the Department of Post War Reconstruction in Canberra.
Still under her maiden name, in March 1949 Jean was promoted to a typist grade
2 position in the Department of Information. Here she provided secretarial services
to the head of the Australian Film Board.

In 1967 after her marriage had broken down Jean Fominas
rejoined the Commonwealth public service and was appointed as a steno-secretary
in the Depatment of Territories. In 1971 Jean was promoted to a more senior position
as personal steno-secretary to the permanent head (secretary) of the Department
of the Interior (George Henry Warwick Smith CBE from 1970 to 1972).

Central
Mapping Authority New South Wales 1954-1961

From entries
in New South Wales Government Gazettes and in the 1954 Public Service
List, Dimitrius Fominas was employed as a trigonometrical surveyor with the
Central Mapping Authority of the Department of Lands from 25 November 1954.

In 1954 the
section comprised Jim and four other trigonometrical surveyors or assistant
surveyors including senior trigonometrical surveyor Louis Henry Anderson.
Staffing in the section increased over the following years that Jim was there.
Jim Fominas resigned as a New South Wales trigonometrical surveyor on 27
November 1961.

In the 1950s
the Central Mapping Authority was based in Sydney and (as indicated above) on
electoral rolls for 1958 and 1963 Jim Fominas resided at 31 Neville Street
in the southern Sydney suburb of Oatley, close to the Georges River. Jim’s
address was about 10 kilometres or so from Cooriengah Heights Road Engadine
where his mother Zinaida Fominas was listed as residing in a 1958 electoral
roll entry.

Around-the-world
sailing attempt 1965

In an
article in The Canberra Times in May 1965 Jim was reported discussing
his intention to leave Sydney the next day and sail solo around-the-world in
his 30‑feet sloop Zina II. In the article Jim was said to want to
be the eleventh man and the first new Australian to sail around-the-world
single-handed. However, it is not clear that the venture was successful as recent
searches for Jim Fominas in various listings of around-the-world sailors of the
20th Century did not locate his name.

Marriage
to Nuriti Ni Luh mid-1970s

It appears
that around the mid-1970s Jim Fominas married Nuriti Ni Luh. A file listing
located in the National Archives of Australia records collection with contents
dated between 1973 and 1975 indicated that Nuriti was Jim’s fiancée. Nuriti is
listed as Jim’s wife in his death notice but she was not listed with Jim in a
1980 electoral roll entry.

Move to
Townsville

A 1980
electoral roll entry showed that Dimitrius Fominas resided at 222 Hugh Street
Townsville and that he was occupied as a civil engineer. (The Hugh Street
address is in the suburb of Currajong.) However, electoral roll entries for
Dimitrius Fominas between 1963 and 1980 were not located. Thus it is unclear
when Jim moved to Townsville.

Vale 1984

Jim Fominas
died at the Townsville General Hospital on 17 May 1984 after a short illness;
he was 69 years of age. At the time of his death Jim still resided at 222 Hugh
Street Townsville. He was survived by his second wife Nuriti (néeNi Luh)
and his first wife Jean Mary and their children Brigid Marie (Mrs Rolf Wick) and
Nikolaus John and by his sister Natasha.

Jim
Fominas’s funeral service was held at the Woongarra Crematorium Chapel in
Townsville on Friday 18 May 1984, it commenced at 1pm. On 23 March 2017, Jim’s
ashes were re-interred at Woronora Memorial Park in Linden Street Sutherland (a
south eastern Sydney suburb). Here Jim’s ashes were located in the Rose Garden
next to those of his mother who died on 1 September 1967 at age 79 years.

Australian
Electoral Commission (various dates), Searches for Fominas on historical
electoral rolls between 1945 and 1980; accessed from the Ancestry website at: http://search.ancestry.com.au/search/

Commonwealth
of Australia (1947), Offices created in the National Mapping Section,
Property and Survey Branch, Department of the Interior; promulgated in the
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No 55, 20 March 1947, pages 948‑950;
accessed from Australian Government Federal Register of Legislation website at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/content/HistoricGazettes1947

Commonwealth of Australia (1957), Maurice Stanley
Clinton Johnston appointment as Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court of
the Australian Capital Territory, promulgated in the Commonwealth of
Australia Gazette, No 44, Thursday 8 August 1957, page 2392; accessed from
Australian Government Federal Register of Legislation website at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/content/HistoricGazettes1957

Fominas, Dimitrius
(1953), Public Notice of intention to apply for citizenship; in The
Canberra Times, Saturday 5 September 1953, page 3; accessed from the
National Library of Australia’s Trove search service at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2890278

Hocking,
David Roy (1985), Star Tracking for Mapping: An Account of Astrofix Surveys
by the Division of National Mapping during 1948-52, a paper presented by
Alan Thomson to the 27th Australian Survey Congress, Reducing Remoteness,
held at Alice Springs, 23-29 March 1985, The Institution of Surveyors,
Australia; accessed from the XNat Map website at: http://www.xnatmap.org/adnm/ops/prog/astro_new.pdf

National
Archives of Australia (various dates), File listings for Dimitrius Fominas
revealed from Record Search on National Archives of Australia website; accessed
at: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au

New South
Wales Government (1955), Appointment on probation of Mr Dimitrius
Fominas, Trigonometrical Surveyor, Department of Lands (to take effect from
25 November 1954), in the Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales,
Friday 9 September 1955, Issue No 100, Supplement, page 2721; accessed from the
National Library of Australia’s Trove search service at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220387157

New South
Wales Government (1962), Resignation of Mr Dimitrius Fominas,
Trigonometrical Surveyor, Department of Lands (on 27 November 1961), in the
Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales, Friday 5 January 1962,
Issue No 3, Supplement, page 38; accessed from the National Library of Australia’s
Trove search service at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220245634